Konya, also Konia, city in central Turkey, capital of
Konya Province, on the Plain of Konya. Konya is known for its handwoven
carpets and other manufactures, including sugar, flour, textiles, leather
goods, and aluminum. It is also a trading center for the surrounding area, in
which agriculture, mining, and livestock raising are important.

mosque

Konya has a
growing tourist trade, due largely to its numerous attractions, such as
orchards, irrigated gardens, several mosques, and the monastery of the
mystical sect known as the Mawlawiyah (in Arabic) or Mevlevi (in Turkish),
or whirling dervishes. The monastery contains the tomb of the sect's founder,
the poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Mohammad Rumi. Also in the city is Selçuk
University (1975).

Selimiye mosque

Konya is one of the world's oldest
cities, with excavations revealing settlement from as early as the 3rd
millennium BC. Under the Persian Empire, Konya, then called Iconium, was the
frontier city of Phrygia. The Romans joined it to Lycaonian district and made
it the capital. The early Christians Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas preached
here. It is likely that the city had a considerable Jewish population at that
time, and became the center from which Christianity spread in south Galatia.

entrance to the mosque
(Please remove the shoes before stepping on the carpets)

In Byzantine times Konya was the seat of an archbishop. In the late 11th
century the Seljuk Turks (see Seljuks) gained control of the area, and
the city became the capital of the sultanate of Iconium, or Rûm. Konya
experienced its greatest prosperity under Seljuk rule and still contains many
fine buildings from that period.

scene of a Muslim man
reading the Holy Book

Seljuk style minaret

The city was taken over by Mongols at the end
of the 13th century, and later by the Turkmen principality of Karaman. In the
latter part of the 15th century it was annexed by the Ottoman Empire. Though
Konya declined during the Ottoman period, it was revived again following the
construction in 1896 of the İstanbul-Baghdâd railroad, which passes through
the city. Population (1996 estimate) 600,062.

Text from Microsoft Encarta

for washing before prayers

a fountain in the garden

on the street next to the mosque

a simpler Muslim graveve
(covered with the color Green, and the turban)